


Tiny Lights

by LeastExpected_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, movie-based
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-02-04
Updated: 2002-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:35:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26308669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeastExpected_Archivist/pseuds/LeastExpected_Archivist
Summary: By Mel A.In the caves below Helm's Deep, Eowyn learns why it is that men fight and women do not.
Kudos: 1
Collections: Least Expected





	Tiny Lights

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Amy Fortuna, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Least Expected](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Least_Expected), which has been offline since 2002. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on the [Least Expected collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/leastexpected/profile).
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own any of it, sadly.  
>  Story Notes: Thanks go out to Caz for the kind beta.

"My lady?" 

Eowyn lifted her head, not turning to face the woman who had called her until after brushing the tears from her cheeks. She'd hidden away in a dark corner of the caves beneath Helm's Deep for a moment of peace and privacy, but it seemed duty would always find her. 

Glancing over, Eowyn was greeted by the face of an unknown. Here in the dark she'd met so many new faces, all frightened, all looking to her for guidance. So many names she would never remember. 

The woman was young but of age. Likely her newly betrothed had gone to defend the Deeping Wall, and she was looking for comfort. Through the grime the girl was pretty in the way that so many of Rohan were. Her eyes spoke of strength and pride, of a willingness to work hard, and of an absolute understanding of her place in this world. No, this woman did not look for comfort. 

Sagging back against the cool rock, Eowyn let down the burden of responsibility she carried in the presence of one so sure of herself. "You do not look frightened," she said softly. "How is it you are so calm when so many are lost in fear?" 

"Faith, my lady," the woman replied. "A shadow may loom over us, but we have the wall and the strength of men protecting us this night." 

The caves were silent but for the occasional cry of a child. All waited nervously for the sounds of commencing battle above. The men were gone but for the youngest of boys. Husbands, fathers, sons, all had been called to defend the last stronghold of the people of Rohan. It was only then that Eowyn was able to acknowledge the true source of the gathered women's fear. It was not the cage. It was not the possibility that orcs would swarm through the keep and down amongst them, bringing to an end the people of the Riddermark. The fear was for the brave men above who fought, and were prepared to die, because they, like the woman before her, knew their place in this world. 

"I would rather stand with them than wait," Eowyn confessed. "I would rather act. It cannot be my fate to always stand behind, and never beside." 

"Do not question your place, my lady," the woman said gently. "If you knew why they fought, and why we must remain here, you would understand that it is for the best." 

"Tell me, then," Eowyn challenged. Ignoring the quaver in her voice and the slight tremble in her hand, she gestured back over the vast caverns. "Why must we sit below the earth, waiting for the blood of our men to soak through and fall upon us? Why, when we might draw blade and defend them as they defend us?" 

The young woman moved closer, and Eowyn looked away lest the woman see the fresh tears that had pooled in her eyes. "Words cannot describe why we wait, my lady, but it is something you can feel in your heart if you open it to the possibility." Her hand reached out, tipping Eowyn's face up so that the tears coursing from beneath her closed eyelids might be revealed. The rough touch of the woman's other hand brushed away the tracks across Eowyn's cheeks. This hand, callused from a lifetime of toil, Eowyn could imagine belonged to another, one who had been born to the sword and who, even now, prepared to wield a blade on the wall above. She let the woman tip her chin up, and did not shy away when lips pressed gently against hers. As her mouth opened to the light touch of a warm tongue, Eowyn felt a firm thigh press up between her legs. The woman eased her body against Eowyn's, pinning the other woman back against the cool stone. 

Eowyn arched her back away from the wall, against the stranger's body. She relished the heat coursing through her inspired by the insistent thrusts of the woman's warm thigh. Of their own accord, her hips began to move, rubbing along the length of the strong flesh. Her hands slid down the woman's waist to hold her more tightly, guiding the other's unoccupied leg up to rest the toe of her boot in a crack in the wall. Opened now, Eowyn was able to undulate against the woman, the slight rasping of their clothes the only sound escaping from their dark corner. 

Lips traveled down Eowyn's neck as she lifted her thigh against the stranger. The timid touches of before gave way to impassioned surges as their bodies met and rolled together. Biting her lip against the cries that fought to escape, Eowyn grabbed a handful of dirty blonde hair, dragging the woman's mouth back up to meet hers. As she buried her tongue in the welcoming mouth of her partner, Eowyn gripped the other's raised thigh. Straining against the pressure of the body against her, the tightness within snapped suddenly as release came, licking up her body like tongues of flame against a cold night sky to ripple through them as heat above the fire. 

The two women shuddered together, their heat spent. A soft sigh escaped Eowyn, and the woman drew back. 

"This is why they fight, and why we must not. They need these gentle sounds, this soft skin, to give them strength. To do battle Men need to be hard. They cannot show weakness or fear." Eowyn felt fingers press against her breast, and became aware of the beating of her own heart as it surged against the hand. "This is the strength of women. When Men lose heart, we return it to them. If we were to take up arms, seeking to possess Men's strength of arm and to defend them, we would all fall. Why should any continue to fight when there is nothing to defend?" 

The hand fell away, but Eowyn continued to feel a ghost of the touch. "Your time to act will come once the battle is done. Many will fall, but those who remain must know the sacrifice and suffering has not been in vain. Until then, if you must act, let your strength sustain us here below." 

She could feel the woman leaving even as a tender kiss was placed on her forehead. Taking heart in the faith of her people and in her place amongst them, Eowyn straightened her shoulders. She stepped out of the shadows, accepting again the burden of duty that was hers, so long as these people were forced to wait in the caves. Her searching eyes could not find the young woman in the crowd, but the sounds of battle newly begun drew her gaze despite her desire to extend a look of gratitude to the woman. In the midst of the shuddering thunder of a host of booted feet on the soil above, the few drops of moisture that had collected on the rough hewn rock of the ceiling reflected the torch light from below, and glittered like diamonds... or stars. The tiny lights served to remind Eowyn that even in the darkest of shadow, there is light. Where there is strength, there is always hope.


End file.
